Heh, uh, I promised I would update this story. And I am. And I will. My bad. My excuses were great- for the first month. The rest has just been… My bad... But. Here's a chapter. And the next two chapters are 100% written. Just not edited. I'm not the biggest fan of this one, but if I edit it more it's going to be another month so it's probably best for me to just deal with it. Sorry.

There were two weeks left of school. A week of classes, a week of finals, and then a too-short summer. Obviously, Cassie couldn't wait. She was actually so excited that she couldn't sleep.

That was only part of the reason she couldn't sleep though. There was a lot going on in her life that left her mind racing during the middle of the night.

Sixth grade was a tough time for Cassie- it's a tough time for anyone, really. The stress of classes, typical preteen drama, constant nightmares for her of course (though, by now Cassie knew what to expect every time she ended up in that void with the cryptic unhelpful voice. It didn't scare her anymore, but it sure wasn't the same as a restful sleep), and on top of that, she still didn't know how she was going to get to Camp.

It didn't leave her much time to relax.

So she was at breakfast Saturday morning, alone, and since it was early and her friends were still sleeping it was a perfect opportunity to think about how she was going to get to Camp.

Cassie had tried to figure out if her mom knew that her father was a god, since that would have made things a hundred times easier, but it hadn't gone as hoped. Her mom didn't seem to know anything about Cassie's father.

"But come on, was he tall? Fat? Blond? Ugly? Any tattoos or—"

"Cassie!" Her mom interrupted, then took a calming breath and continued, "Cassie. It was a long time ago. I didn't know him for verylong."

"No photos or anything? Mom, come on." She pressed.

"No, no photos."

"Come on! I just want to know what I'll look like when I grow up... He wasn't, like, a psycho... Was he? If my dad was a psycho I want to know."

"Cassie, no, no. He was very nice. Very handsome."

There was a short silence. "Is that it? That's all I get to know about my dad?" Well that sure wasn't going to help her find out his identity. "Goodness, how long did you even know this guy?" Cassie asked under her breath somewhat rhetorically.

"Yes," Her mom said shortly, ignoring her daughter's later question, "That's all you get to know!"

Cassie blinked, taken aback at her mom's abruptness. She knew her mom was pretty... liberal... And she knew a god wouldn't want to stick around with a mortal for long, but…

Somewhat hesitantly, she asked, "For longer or less than a weekend?"

There was silence on the other end of the line, but Cassie figured that was basically an answer in itself. Her jaw dropped in disbelief. "MOM!"

Cassie could practically hear her mom roll her eyes. "You asked!"

"You could have lied!"

"I'm not a liar, Cassie,"

"But kids don't want to know they're a mistake from a one night stand! Mom! Agh!" Cassie put the phone down for a second and decided she didn't really like discussing her mom's sex life. "Mom, I gotta go." She announced suddenly, "I gotta go. I'll call tomorrow."

They said their goodbyes and Cassie hung up the phone. She pressed the heel of her hands into her temples as she started walking back to her room, wishing she hadn't even asked.

And so, she figured there was no chance her mom would know Cassie's father was a god. Cassie would have to make it seem like she was going to a normal summer camp if she ever wanted to get to Camp Half-Blood.

She thought that would be easy enough, but she still needed Camp's help. To get an invitation or something from them to be able to go there.

Obviously she couldn't just show up without them saying anything first.

Maybe she could mention summer to Chiron; "Oh, Mr. Brunner, I can't wait for summer! Too bad I've got no plans though." and he could go all, "Oh, well, Cassie, there's this cool camp on Long Island, you should go," and it would be super simple.

Pff, Cassie though, 'Simple'. Sure.

But then she saw Grover put his tray down across from her and take a seat.

"Good morning!" He said, with forced cheerfulness; Cassie could clearly see he was exhausted.

She hadn't seen him all week- busy studying, he said, whenever Cassie asked if he was free, which Cassie thought was absurd. He'd probably taken all these classes a half dozen times already. Why was he studying?

"Mind if I join you?" He asked, which Cassie thought was stupid, because he was already sitting.

"Please." Okay, she figured, this is good. Perfect. maybe she could somehow bring camp up with Grover. Start with a normal conversation, then steer it straight towards summer.

Yep. She could do that. "So…. How come you're up so early?" She started.

Grover shifted a little nervously. "Actually... I wanted to talk to you."

Cassie paused. Blinked.

Grover played with his food as he spoke, "So, I heard you say the other day you weren't doing anything this summer. And, I was thinking, well, I go to this camp every summer. It's on Long Island,"

Cassie's jaw almost dropped. But she had been in the middle of chewing and that would have been gross. Oh my gosh... You're kidding. You've got to be kidding. Her direct invitation to camp. No way. Cassie tried to control her enthusiasm.

"—and I don't know, I think you'd like it. If you wanted to come. I have a brochure, y'know, here, just, if you want to look at it, or..."

Cassie took the paper Grover had produced. She wanted to snatch it away giddily and read every line, every detail, call and tell them she would be there right away. But she couldn't.

Instead she glanced at all the pictures, trying to act only mildly interested, and gave a shrug. "Yeah it looks fun" she said casually. Or tried to sound casual about it, at least.

"It's pretty cheap too," Grover continued, "And they give scholarships if you need. The campers are super cool. And there's lots of fun activities. They do tons of bonfires with s'mores, there's rock climbing walls,"

Sword fighting, monster training, wrestling classes, Cassie filled in silently,

"It's right on the beach of Long Island Sound, so it's a really pretty place,"

Cassie finally looked up from the brochure when he stopped and asked, mildly joking, "So, do you get commissions or something?"

Grover blushed. "No, I just thought, you know, if you weren't doing anything else... It's a ton of fun. I think you'd really like it."

Cassie smiled.

Uh, YES! "Yeah, thanks, it looks great, I'll think about it… Talk to my mom..."

Grover seemed to relax. "Great. So, uh," He paused, "Worried about any of your finals?"

Cassie put the camp's brochure to the side. Worried about finals? Not a chance. She was a half-blood, and she had just been invited to Camp Half Blood. It was perfect. Life was perfect. No more worries what. So. Ever. Gods. It was all falling into place. One less thing to stress over. And finals and grades don't matter when you're a sixth grader, Cassie knew, which really only left one major thing for her to figure out.

"Cass...pia... Help me..."

Not again. Cassie had gotten used to the dreams. They didn't terrify her like they used to, but they did irritate her. The Voice never said anything interesting. Maybe her name, 'help me', 'free me', once or twice it had said 'Find me', but that was it.

So now, Cassie would be stuck in The Void until The Voice had had enough of its ambiguous mumbling and let her wake up. Usually that happened pretty fast, but it still left her feeling tired when she did wake.

"Cassiopia..."

Ohh, got my whole name out that time, Cassie rolled her eyes, nice job.

"Find me..." Cassie didn't bother asking a sarcastic 'how'. It wouldn't tell her.

There were a few minutes of silence. There was nothing for her to do but wait. Nothing to look at. To feel. Nowhere to go. Nothing to hear. All she could do was wait. Then,

"Sept...Ber..."

Cassie perked up.

That was new.

"Sept...Em...Ber... Eigh...teen..."

September eighteen. Okay. Good. Great. What about it?

Cassie waited for The Voice to say something, anything, else.

"Help... Me..."

Cassie wished she could feel her hands so she could rip out her hair. "HOW!?" She screamed, though not expecting an answer. "Who are you!? What do you want!?"

"Cassi...opia..."

And then she woke up.

Cassie sighed, feeling no more rested than she did before her nap, and looked out the window of her mom's car. She didn't recognize anything they passed, but she hadn't expected to; Cassie had never been to Long Island before.

She had hoped to get some sleep on their long drive to camp since she had been too excited to get any the night before.

Cassie threw her head back against her seat. September eighteen. The eighteenth. What does that mean? My gosh-gods. She shook her head. Gods. That was the word she was supposed to use.

Gods. Why couldn't The Voice just say what it needed her to do?

Cassie sighed and reached towards the car's radio. She hoped that there would be better stations at camp than the one her mom had on.

"Oh good, your awake," Ms. Barton said, "We're almost there."

But, of course, when parents say 'almost there' they mean a really-freaking-long-time. The rest of the drive gave Cassie's mood plenty of time to change from groggy and irritated to perked up and excited though.

By the time the turned on the drive marked 3.141 Farm Rd, she was literally on the edge of her seat. She could see it! Thalia's tree! She was really there!

Cassie eyes eagerly scanned everything they passed, looking for something she might recognize. And as they topped the last hill, and the camp's valley lay before her…

Cassie gasped.

Everything was there. Just like in the books! It was amazing. Too amazing. She couldn't believe it. She could see the strawberry fields. The lake. The Big House…

Well, now all she could see was the Big House, since all too soon Cassie's mom had blocked the view by driving the car into one of the parking spots behind the house.

Which was fine by Cassie- before the car was even off she was unbuckled and jumping out of her seat. Cassie gaped up at the giant blue building and took a few mindless steps towards it.

"Don't forget your things," Her mom reminded, focusing back Cassie's attention.

Right. Her stuff.

Within seconds Cassie had gotten her belongings and was hugging them to her chest as she and her mom made their way towards the front steps of the wrap around porch.

No one else seemed to be up there, besides the single girl coming their way. She was maybe a few years older than Cassie, with pretty brown hair pulled back in a high pony tail, but Cassie had no idea who it could be. Not Annabeth. Not Clarisse…

"Hi!" The girl greeted as she approached, "You must be Cassie. And Ms. Barton? I'm Katie." Well, that answered Cassie's question. Katie held out her hand to Ms. Barton in greeting.

Cassie's mom shook it and replied with a friendly, "Hi Katie, nice to meet you."

Katie smiled, "The camp director, should be here any second." She told them, "Do you want me to bring your stuff to your cabin?" Katie gestured at the duffle bag and pillow Cassie was holding.

Cassie shook her head, "Oh, thanks, but that's okay," Or, really, Cassie wasn't up for her mom meeting Mr. D and then changing her mind about camp. Maybe it was best if... "I can carry it." Cassie suggested. Then she could leave and her mom wouldn't possibly be able to change her mind. Cassie looked up at her mom. "Mind if I go?"

"Oh, well," Ms. Barton glanced at Katie, who shrugged unhelpfully, "I guess not..."

Cassie shifted her things and gave her mom an awkward hug. "I'll write a bunch. I love you."

"I love you more."

But her mom wouldn't let go.

Cassie rolled her eyes. She loved her mom, but she was at Camp-Freaking-Half-Blood. She wanted to go see it. And she felt had waited long enough. "Okay, gotta go. Bye mom."

Ms. Barton released her daughter, "Good bye. I love you. Don't forget to write. Tell me everything."

"Of course I will." Cassie stepped back and headed towards the cabins to catch up to Katie. She paused just once for one final, "By mom. Love you."

Katie had set a quick pace towards the edge of the woods where Cassie could just make out the odd assortment of cabins. Even at their distance she thought she could make out which was which.

"We'll have to get back to the big House quick," Katie told her, "Chiron said he wanted you to watch the orientation video before you do anything else."

"Orientation video? Why?" Percy hadn't had to watch an orientation video.

"How much do you know about Camp Half-Blood?" Katie asked instead of answering.

….. Everything.…. "Uh, it's a summer camp?" She played dumb, like she was supposed to, "What do you mean?"

Katie hesitated. This wasn't her job, to explain the Greek gods to dumb little kids like Cassie. She shrugged and smiled, "That's why we have the video!"

The two continued onwards. Cassie was content enough with Katie's vague answers, not that she didn't know all about camp, but she was thrilled to just be able to take everything in.

It was all infinitely better than she had imagined. Yet it was still unbelievable. She was actually at Camp Half-Blood! Her! At Camp!

Cassie stared at everything with wide eyes as they made their way down into the valley. There! Those were the volleyball courts! And the kids down there, playing a game, they were all half-bloods! There were more of them too, tons of them; some in the strawberry fields, a few of them walking out of the woods and coming their way, a couple on the dock near the la— well, now just one on the dock. The other had been pushed in. And the archery range! Was that… Chiron? In centaur form? Cassie blinked. Yep. Must be.

"There's a ton of kids here," Cassie observed when she was finally able to peel her eyes away from her former, well, current, teacher.

Katie shrugged. "It's the first real day of summer session. Most kids got here this past weekend. Some have been here longer, if their schools got out earlier."

Cassie didn't try to make more conversation the rest of the way. Mostly because she was too distracted by everything else. And then she saw the cabins. Truly the weirdest collection of buildings Cassie had ever seen. And the one they were walking towards, ugh, Cassie frowned. She could hear the kids inside already.

"So, there might not be too much room in there for you," Katie said apologetically.

Cassie had assumed that. She still didn't like it though. Couldn't they have just built another cabin for all the unclaimed kid? Or Expand it? Add more beds? Anything. She didn't think it would be too hard.

"Hey, Luke!" Katie called when they reached the door. Nobody paid them any attention. Well, except for Luke, who had somehow heard the girl over the noisy campers.

It took him a few moments to meander through the mess, stepping over all the sleeping bags and avoiding the ball flying back and forth across the room, but eventually, he stopped in the doorway.

"Hey Katie," He greeted with a friendly smile, and looked towards Cassie, "And who's this?"

"Cassie." Cassie said.

"And this," Katie introduced, "Is Luke."

Cassie smiled at him and tried not to blush. He was pretty cute, she thought, scar or no scar. She mentally shook her head. Stop it. Bad guy! Luke's a bad guy! Stop it!

"Cassie just got here." Katie continued. "Undetermined. She needs a place."

"Welcome to camp, Cassie," Luke grinned as he held out an arm towards the chaos inside, "Cabin eleven is always happy to have new campers."

Luke pivoted to face everyone inside, "Hey! Guys!" He yelled above the noise. Most of them quieted down and gave him their attention. "This is Cassie. Now—"

"Regular or undetermined?" Someone cut him off.

Luke huffed, knowing what was coming next. "Undetermined, but—"

Everyone groaned. And complained. And protested.

"Aww come on, Luke, we just got another this morning!"

"We don't have room for her!"

"Get her a tent or something!"

Cassie frowned. She supposed she hadn't been expecting much else, but still. Rude.

"Cassie we're glad to have you," Luke spoke over them, making it clear to everyone that they were glad to have her. Or at least they would pretend. "You can have that spot over there."

He gestured to a lovely patch of wood below a window.

Katie looked towards the spot with distaste, "Great. But hey, Luke, she's gotta get back to the Big House and watch the orientation video." Katie grimaced as she looked around inside the cabin. "Will you, ah, watch her stuff?"

Luke grinned, "Of course,"

And within moments Cassie and Katie were making the trek back towards the giant blue farmhouse. Cassie's mom wasn't there anymore when they returned. No one was.

"Just try to be quiet while we're in here," Katie advised as they slipped inside, "Mr. D is probably resting. He's cranky enough without us bothering him."

"Mr. D?" Cassie asked like a good little unknowing camper.

"The camp's director. The video explains it all." Katie closed the door to a large room that was some sort of mix between a living room and a movie theater. Cassie sat herself down on one of the many couches as Katie went to turn on a projector.

A minute later, the video ready and Katie quickly turned off the lights and took a seat on the arm of Cassie's couch.

"You may have heard about the Greek gods before," a teenaged boy told the camera as he walked around outside. Cassie guessed he was maybe 15 years old. But that would have been at least 15 years ago. Probably more. The quality was horrible. And he dressed funny.

"Maybe in school, in books, in tv…. But I'm here to tell you," He stopped and paused dramatically. The camera zoomed in on his face "It's all real."

Cassie cocked an eyebrow and glanced at Katie. The video seemed pretty lame.

Katie misinterpreted her sardonic look as one of disbelief though. She shrugged back and mothed, it's true.

"And just like in the stories, sometimes they interacted with humans. We are their children. We are half-god. And this," The guy held out his hand and the camera turned to reveal a valley, "Is Camp Half-Blood!"

Dramatic music started blaring and Cassie gave Katie another look.

The boy soon came back on screen and started talking about monsters, and how camp taught half-bloods how to fight them. He told them about all the activities the camp had, the things they would learn about, physically and knowledge-wise. He told them about Chiron, the Camp director. Katie corrected him- told Cassie he was only the 'activities director' now. Whatever that meant.

The boy told them about the chariot races the camp held. Katie corrected him on that too; Said they didn't do them anymore.

He told them about going on quests. Katie grimaced and finally paused the video.

"We don't usually show this anymore," She said. "It's a little outdated."

Yeah no joke.

"But it's got the general idea… Your dad is a god."

Katie was probably expecting some sort of disbelief from Cassie. For Cassie to think they were playing some sort of stupid joke on her. Katie waited for the younger girl to say something.

Say what though? Cassie knew it was the truth. But for her to say she believed Katie right away wouldn't be normal, would it?

After a few moments she finally let out a hesitant, "Uh-huh,"

But Katie didn't say anything more. She just shrugged. It didn't really matter if Cassie believed or not; a few days at camp would convince any skeptic of the truth, and Katie didn't like bothering trying to convince them otherwise on their first day.

Before either could say anything else though, a faint sound of a horn cut them off.

"That's the dinner signal." Katie got up, "The dining pavilion is on the other side of camp, we better hurry."

So... Yeah. Review, please? Even just like a x/10 rating is nice to see. Even if its a 0/10. That's fine too. Any feedback is GREAT.

And if you catch any story errors, please let me know. I'm trying to keep this 100000% canon. Yes, 100000%. Colors of cabins, distances, capitalization of places at camp, whatever. Let me know.

And like I said. Next 2 chapters are 100% done. I don't think I'll give a date estimate for its upload, since I know I'll miss it... But just know they're done, and they're coming.

Thanks. A ton. A ton.